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Food and Hunger Committee Phase II Report, December 2000
Toronto’s Food Charter
In 1976, Canada signed the United Nations Covenant on Social, Economic
and Cultural Rights, which includes “the fundamental right of everyone to
be free from hunger.” The City of Toronto supports our national commitment
to food security, and the following beliefs:
Every Toronto resident should have access to an adequate supply of
nutritious, affordable and culturally-appropriate food.
Food security contributes to the health and well-being of residents while
reducing their need for medical care.
Food is central to Toronto’s economy, and the commitment to food
security can strengthen the food sector’s growth and development.
Food brings people together in celebrations of community and diversity
and is an important part of the city’s culture.
Therefore, to promote food security, Toronto City Council will:
a champion the right of all residents to
adequate amounts of safe, nutritious,
culturally-acceptable food without the need
to resort to emergency food providers
a advocate for income, employment, housing,
and transportation policies that support
secure and dignified access to the food
people need
a support events highlighting the city’s
diverse and multicultural food traditions
a promote food safety programs and services
a sponsor nutrition programs and services
that promote healthy growth and help
prevent diet-related diseases
a ensure convenient access to an affordable
range of healthy foods in city facilities
a adopt food purchasing practices that
serve as a model of health, social and
environmental responsibility
a partner with community, cooperative,
business and government organizations
to increase the availability of healthy foods
a encourage community gardens that
increase food self-reliance, improve fitness,
contribute to a cleaner environment, and
enhance community development
a protect local agricultural lands and support
urban agriculture
a encourage the recycling of organic
materials that nurture soil fertility
a foster a civic culture that inspires all
Toronto residents and all city
departments to support food programs
that provide cultural, social, economic
and health benefits
a work with community agencies, residents’
groups, businesses and other levels of
government to achieve these goals.
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Food and Hunger Committee Phase II Report, December 2000
Towards a food-secure city
Canada’s National Action Plan for Food
Security states that “Food security exists when
all people, at all times, have physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food
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preferences for an active and healthy life.”
In May 2000, Toronto City Council voted
unanimously to become a food-secure city that
would strive to ensure:
a the availability of a variety of foods at a
reasonable cost
a ready access to quality grocery stores,
food service operations, or alternative
food sources
a sufficient personal income to buy
adequate foods for each household
member each day
a the freedom to choose personally- and
culturally-acceptable foods
a legitimate confidence in the quality of
the foods available
a easy access to understandable, accurate
information about food and nutrition
a the assurance of a viable and sustainable
food production system.
Ten reasons why
Toronto supports food security
Food is a need all people share. So is the
need for food security. Food security is not
someone else’s problem. Nor is it a problem
that can be safely ignored by anyone or any
government. If our city depends on imports for
basic staples, we have a food security problem.
If foods aren’t labelled accurately so people
know exactly what’s in them, we have a food
security problem. If foods aren’t properly
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inspected, we have a food security problem. If
topsoil erodes and water tables are polluted,
future food security is threatened. If healthy
foods aren’t affordable, we’re all just one layoff,
one divorce, one major accident or illness away
from food insecurity.
Food security, however, is not just a set of
problems. It creates opportunities.There are at
least ten good reasons why investments in food
security are among the smartest ethical investments a city can make, and why Toronto is starting
to make those investments now.
1. Food security means no-one
in the city goes to bed hungry.
Toronto tries to be a city where
everyone belongs, feels part of a larger
community and has an opportunity to
contribute. It does not want to be a city
torn between haves and have-nots.The
decision to make Toronto a food-secure city
acknowledges that each of us is affected by
the well-being of others. International
studies show that people from all income
groups are healthier when people from
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low-income groups are also healthy.
Some people see this commitment as a
matter of conscience and respect for
human rights. Some see it as enlightened
self-interest and respect for the conditions
that create a safe and liveable city. Either
way, food security is essential to an open,
peaceable and civil city Torontonians can
take pride in.
2. Food security makes
the city more affordable.
Toronto is one of the few world cities in
which people from all walks of life can still
afford to set up home and raise families. But
Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security:A Response to the World Food Summit, 1998.
For example, the poorest people in Sweden are healthier, on average, than the richest people in England. See Dennis Raphael,
“Public Health Responses to Health Inequalities,” Canadian Journal of Public Health, November-December 1998, page 89; R.G.
Wilkinson, Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality (New York: Routledge, 1996); D.Vagero et al.,“Health Inequalities in
Britain and Sweden,” The Lancet, 1989, no. 2, pages 35-36; D. Loon et al.,“Social Class Differences in Infant Mortality in Sweden:A
Comparison with England and Wales,” British Medical Journal, 1992, vol., 305, pages 687-91.
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Food and Hunger Committee Phase II Report, December 2000
it’s an expensive place to live. During the
1990s, despite the boom in some economic
sectors, the number of Toronto families living
in poverty increased, both absolutely and
relatively. Food banks, created as a short-term
stopgap during the 1980s, became permanent
fixtures in the city.
Measures that enable people to buy and
prepare healthy but inexpensive food, or to
grow some of their own food, help make the
city more affordable to everyone.
3. Food security means
every child gets a head start.
Kids need a nourishing breakfast and a
good lunch to get the most from their
school day. Research proves that child
nutrition and learning are closely linked,
and that childhood nutritional shortcomings can last a lifetime.That’s why school
nutrition programs are well established
across Europe and the United States.
Canada is the only western industrialized
country that does not have a national child
nutrition program. But Toronto gives 65,000
children a head start on their day and their
life with school breakfast, snack and lunch
programs supported by the city, province,
volunteers and local businesses.
4. Food security
saves on medical care.
A healthy diet is the most cost-effective
form of health care available. Heart disease,
strokes, diabetes and cancer, all of which are
related to diet, cost Toronto $491 million a
year in medical bills and lost productivity.
Many worry that a public and universal
health care system cannot sustain the burden
of expensive treatments of preventable diseases.To protect Canada’s health care system,
especially as the population ages and chronic
diseases peak, nutrition needs to be treated
as a first line of defence.
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5. Food security
means more local jobs.
Unlike people in many world cities,
Torontonians rely almost entirely on food
trucked from thousands of kilometres
away.That means Toronto’s food dollars
travel thousands of kilometres to create
jobs elsewhere.
It doesn’t have to be that way, especially
in a region that has the best farmland in
Canada. As recently as 1960, most of
Toronto’s food came from within 350
kilometres of the city limits. If even 1.5 % of
Toronto’s surface area were made available
to market gardeners and greenhouse
operators, we could create a $16 million a
year industry growing 10% of our city’s fresh
vegetables. A combination of vacant, underused land and flat empty roofs makes that
goal achievable.
6. Food security
is environmentally friendly.
The more we rely on the Greater Toronto
Area for food, the more we will enjoy fresh
air and clean water.
Since plants store carbon dioxide and
release oxygen, gardens improve air quality.
Local growers also reduce the need to bring
in food by truck.Trucks burn 10 times more
energy in transit than is in the food itself.
Growing 10% of our vegetables in the city
would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
37.9 kilotonnes a year, help meet Toronto’s
commitments to reduce global warming,
and avoid more than $5 million in environ3
mental costs.
Plants also absorb rain, and keep rainwater
out of the sewage system, where it’s difficult
and costly to treat. Rooftop gardens collect
rainfall, and lower a building’s heating and
cooling needs. Putting gardens on top of
20% of the city-owned buildings in Toronto
Calculations provided by Rod MacRae, Ph.D., food policy advisor, at the request of the Toronto Food and Hunger Action Committee.
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Food and Hunger Committee Phase II Report, December 2000
would add 16 hectares of green space to the
city, providing food, oxygen and better
stormwater control.
7. Food security
reduces traffic pollution.
Unlike many U.S. cities,Toronto boasts
quality food stores within easy reach of most
people.That’s an amenity worth protecting.
The trend in food retail is to larger stores
surrounded by huge parking lots, usually
away from populated areas.As a result, people
without cars are at a disadvantage, while
shoppers with cars add to traffic jams and
pollution. In a food-secure Toronto, people
will live within walking distance of a food
store and have the opportunity to exercise
when they do their shopping errands.
8. Food security is good business.
Food processing, the city’s largest
industry sector, employs 40,000 workers.
More than 120,000 people have food-related
jobs, in restaurants, shops or marketing. Job
security in these businesses depends on
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customers with food security.
Toronto could create even more jobs by
supplying more of its own food needs. It has
a diverse and cosmopolitan populace that
isn’t always served by mass market products.
Some people require halal or kosher meats.
Vegetarians, vegans and people with food
sensitivities and allergies all have special
needs.These people support small, community-based processors who specialize in
filling their special needs.These small
companies create food security for their
employees and customers.
9. Food security
means waste not, want not.
A typical family of four generates a tonne
of food and packaging waste a year. Most of
it is carted away to landfill sites, at about $60
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a tonne.What we waste could be turned
into any number of resources, including
methane for clean fuel, livestock feed, or
compost to enrich gardens. A city that is
food-secure knows the difference between
waste and the feedstock for another business or project.
Toronto has many resources waiting to
be used.There is idle land that could be
made into gardens, and greenhouses that
lie empty for part of the year.Those gardens
could use recycled water and rain for irrigation.The greenhouses can use waste
heat coming from power plants and boilers.
Food security is about not throwing
opportunities away.
10. Food security is neighbourly.
People from all cultures build communities around food. Seder ceremonies,
Eid-al-Fitr festivities, Caribana picnics,
family dinners at Thanksgiving, wedding
feasts, anniversary banquets... most people
celebrate special events by breaking bread
with companions — the word companion
comes from the Latin for “with” and
“bread.” Community gardens also bring
people together in a project that beautifies
and enlivens a neighbourhood.
Some elderly or disabled residents rarely
enjoy eating with friends and neighbours,
but find it difficult to get around, and so
often eat alone. In a food-secure Toronto,
they will enjoy more opportunities to join
others for a meal.
Toronto is the name its original
inhabitants used for “meeting place.” Food
honours that tradition, and helps keep
Toronto a place where people of many
cultures and values enrich the city with
their distinctive variations on our common
human needs.
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Kyle Benham,“An Economic Development Strategy for the Toronto Food Sector,” City of Toronto, May 1998.